The commotion was so loud that the two gang members outside cautiously edged closer.
"Leader Wang, what happened?"
Wang Bao impatiently waved his big hand. "Nothing. Get lost, both of you."
"Heh heh, got it. We'll get as far away as we can..."
The two outside grinned lecherously. Knowing Wang Bao's temperament, they could guess what was about to happen between Zhao Han and Wang Bao.
"Everyone's gone. Are you taking your clothes off yourself, or do I have to do it for you?" Wang Bao stood up, rubbing his hands as he leered at Zhao Han.
Li Dalong liked men with smooth, delicate skin, while his older brother Wang Hu liked beautiful women with slender waists.
Wang Bao was different.
He liked people who were about his own size and skin tone.
And Zhao Han fit the bill perfectly.
Tanned skin, a somewhat slender build, and average height.
"Well, I'll do it myself." Zhao Han tossed his cleaver aside, having already sentenced Wang Bao to death in his mind.
In this chaotic world, there were women nowhere to be seen, and Wang Bao was so desperate he'd even go after his own kind.
Wang Bao's grin grew brighter. Zhao Han had even thrown away his cleaver, clearly submitting completely. Another fine night was in store for him.
"Then I'll start taking it off... Go fuck yourself!"
Zhao Han spoke slowly as he turned his back to Wang Bao. Then he spun around without warning, flinging out a pile of lime and splashing the water from the flask in his hand.
"Ah! What do you think you're doing, you little bastard? How dare you ambush me?"
The lime clouded Wang Bao's vision, and his eyes burned fiercely. His whole body began to heat up, too.
Realizing he'd been ambushed with lime, he hurriedly backed away, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.
"Die!"
Zhao Han immediately unleashed Snake-Style Deft Hand, fingers pressed together like a snake's head as he jabbed at Wang Bao.
"You—you've actually trained Snake-Style Deft Hand to the fourth level? How is that possible?"
Wang Bao's vision cleared a little. Seeing Zhao Han's fierce punches and overwhelming momentum, his expression changed.
This wasn't some newly promoted elite gang member. This was a ruthless man who'd been hiding his strength.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
The two traded attacks and defenses with Snake-Style Deft Hand. In an instant, Zhao Han's rapid assault had Wang Bao gasping for breath, barely able to defend himself.
As the heat spread through his body, Wang Bao felt worse and worse.
The skin in some places had already blistered from the heat.
If he hadn't been thick-skinned and able to endure the pain, he would've been rolling on the ground by now.
"You've been hiding your strength pretty well. Heh heh heh. But you're still no match for me. Try my Black Wolf Fist!" Wang Bao suddenly sneered and unleashed Black Wolf Fist.
Zhao Han was stunned. He hadn't expected Wang Bao to know Black Wolf Fist, too.
And it seemed he'd reached the fourth level.
"Surprised, huh? I trained it in secret just to frame the Black Wolf Gang." Wang Bao revealed his cards.
He had practiced Black Wolf Fist so he could pin the blame on the Black Wolf Gang. That was why Li Dalong trusted him so much.
"Looks like I'll have to take your pants off myself after all. Black Wolf Gouges Heart!" Wang Bao sneered and drove a vicious punch forward.
"You think you're the only one who knows it? I know it, too!"
Zhao Han scoffed and met him with his own proficient Black Wolf Fist.
"Bang!"
Both men staggered back a step. Wang Bao's face was full of shock.
"How is this possible? No way. Absolutely no way. You've been practicing both Black Wolf Fist and Snake-Style Deft Hand?"
"Nothing's impossible. Die!"
Zhao Han charged forward again and traded blows with Wang Bao.
Wang Bao struggled to keep up.
While Wang Bao was caught off guard, Zhao Han took a small knife from his storage space and plunged it into his throat.
Blood instantly seeped from the wound.
"Ugh, ugh..." Wang Bao's face filled with terror. Blood blocked his vocal cords and windpipe, leaving him unable to speak. He hurriedly lunged toward the tent's entrance.
How could Zhao Han let him have his way? He immediately rushed over and slammed a punch into the back of Wang Bao's head, knocking him unconscious.
He dragged him to the center of the tent.
But the blisters covering his body and the agony in his throat woke Wang Bao up again.
"Die!"
Zhao Han plunged the knife straight into Wang Bao's chest, piercing his heart. Wang Bao's eyes widened as his arms and legs kicked and thrashed against the ground.
In the end, he died with his eyes wide open.
He never thought that Zhao Han, a nobody, would be the one to kill him.
Zhao Han had just let out a breath of relief when he was startled to see wisps of black smoke rise from Wang Bao's corpse.
They floated in the air, gradually forming a skull shape, then flew out through the tent's fabric.
Zhao Han's face filled with horror. "That's... a Ghost!"
No one knew better than he did how terrifying Ghosts were.
After transmigrating and becoming a farmer, Zhao Han had witnessed how terrifying Ghosts were while fleeing for his life.
Lesser Ghosts were hard to deal with, Medium Weirds could slaughter a city, and Great Weirds could destroy the world.
Even an ordinary Lesser Ghost could leave a Martial Artist at the Skin Refining Realm barely able to protect himself. Only those at the Muscle Refining Realm had even the slightest power to fight back, and ordinary people stood no chance at all.
"But it doesn't seem like a Ghost. It looks more like... a soul." Zhao Han was astonished.
What kind of background did Wang Bao have? How could he be connected to Ghosts?
And what about Wang Hu? What about Li Dalong?
Thinking of the recent events and the frequent disappearances of mine slaves, Zhao Han shuddered all over.
He couldn't stay in Poison Dragon Hall another second.
What blessings could anyone get from joining a gang? That was all a pack of ghostly lies. Let your guard down for a moment, and you could lose your life.
Still shaken, Zhao Han peeled back a tiny corner of the tent and looked outside. No one had noticed anything unusual.
Even the two gang members guarding the entrance were chatting far away.
In that case, I'll help myself.
"I need to get out of the mine as soon as possible."
"Wang Bao was devious enough to practice Black Wolf Fist as well, and he'd taken it to a higher level than Snake-Style Deft Hand. Good thing I didn't let my guard down and brought lime, or I'd have been caught with my pants down."
Zhao Han immediately began searching the corpse.
Eight taels of silver.
One identity token.
One manual for Snake-Style Deft Hand.
One manual for Black Wolf Fist.
And a black leather-bound manual called Shanyin Art.
"Shanyin Art. Even the name sounds mysterious. It seems to have something to do with Ghosts."
Zhao Han picked up Shanyin Art and leafed through it.
[Ghostly Path discovered. Scanning...]
The system suddenly spoke. Zhao Han froze. Ghostly Path? What was that?
Martial Artist: Zhao Han Realm: Skin Refining Martial Arts: Black Wolf Fist, Snake-Style Deft Hand Ghostly Path: Shanyin Art [Not simplified, low-grade] Simplification: Black Wolf Fist [Simplified, unranked, proficient 750/1000, practice Black Wolf Fist 1,000 times] Snake-Style Deft Hand [Simplified, unranked, proficient 0/1000, kill a Python (at least eight meters long and as thick as an upper arm)]
"Ghostly Path? Shanyin Art? Low-grade? It's actually a low-grade technique!"
Zhao Han stared in astonishment. A low-grade technique?
Was this some kind of joke?
Low-grade techniques could take someone all the way to the Organ Refining Realm.
And what kind of level was the Organ Refining Realm? The leaders of the Poisonous Snake Gang and the Black Wolf Gang were powerful enough to dominate all of Blackwater County and have the final say in everything.
Yet even the two of them had only just reached the Bone Refining Realm, where they could barely protect themselves against some Lesser Ghosts.
The Organ Refining Realm was on a completely different level.
If a low-grade technique appeared in Blackwater County, wouldn't people fight tooth and nail to get it?
[Simplifying a low-grade technique requires one hundred taels of silver.]
He didn't have enough silver, so he could only look at Shanyin Art without touching it.
Zhao Han had a vague idea why Wang Bao's soul had escaped. It was probably inseparable from this Shanyin Art.
Before you continue